Spurgeon Takes Eighth in Air Rifle at JOs

By Shannon McNamara

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April 17, 2013 11:18 AM

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University freshman Garrett Spurgeon squeaked into the men’s 10m air rifle final and finished eighth at the National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC), yesterday, at the United States Olympic Training Center, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Stuck in a three-way tie with Daniel Cliff and David Higgins following two days of competition, Spurgeon, a native of Canton, Mo., outshot the duo in a shoot-off and earned the right to advance to the eight-man final, where he shot 102.6, the second-best score of the day. Coupled with his two-day total of 1168 (584, 584), Spurgeon finished eighth overall with a 1270.6 total.

Classmate Patrick Sunderman finished 18th overall with an 1163 total. The Farmington, Minn., native tallied 583 on April 15 and 580 on April 16.

Kentucky’s Connor Davis won the national title with a 1285.1 total. Davis shot 593 on day one, 590 on day two and 102.1 in the final. Alaska-Fairbanks’ Ryan Anderson finished second (1283.6) and Tyler Rico of the Air Force placed third (1278.9).

The championships will conclude this week with the men’s smallbore and prone competitions.